Giggles And Grins

One afternoon Nathan and Bracken were being silly and throwing stuffed animals around the living room.  Marco was enthralled and eventually started giggling up a storm!

Marco's new trick is pulling up to furniture!  When he starts crawling he'll have a whole new world to explore!

The Line-Up

Since Halloween night was crazy for me I didn't get pictures.  So I dressed the kids up a few days later to document their award winning get ups!  Taking pictures of all 3 boys together rarely goes smoothly.  There were so many cute shots I couldn't decided what to share so here they all are!

Halloween Festivities

October 2012

We had a whole week of Halloween  celebrations.  First (Friday Oct. 26), we went to our ward Halloween Carnival hosted by our wonderful Primary Presidency.  There was good food and lots of carnival games for the kids to play and win little prizes.  This year our family had a theme for our costumes.  The boys were football players and they picked out BYU jerseys & helmets, Marco was the football, Curtis the coach complete with aviator glasses and headset, and I was a cheerleader.  With all the chaos of the evening I never had a chance to get a picture of us all together, but we looked GOOD!  So good in fact that we won the best family category of the costume contest!

Saturday Oct. 27th

Our next Halloween fun took place in Bagdad , Arizona.  We were there with all the Kleinman's for a birthday celebration and then we hit up the community Halloween carnival before heading home.  There were tons of booths with games and activities.  Nathan dove right in and had a blast.  Bracken was overwhelmed at first and stayed right next to me, but once he realized he could win candy and trinkets from playing the games he decided it would be worth his effort to give a few games a try.  Every 15 minutes they announced costume winners and the winners had their pick of prizes from a giant pile of goods.  I hadn't dressed the kids in their full football gear for this evening, we simply put their jerseys over their play clothes and plopped the helmets on their heads so I was shocked when Nathan's number was called!  I escorted him up to the prize table and discovered that the local LDS missionaries were the costume judges and they loved our little BYU football player!  Nathan picked out a baseball bat that was just his size.

The official Halloween day was a bit stressful for me.  Being on a Wednesday made it hectic.  I have 6 piano lessons on Wednesdays and Curtis doesn't get home till after 8pm, but he planned on cutting class short and coming home early by 7:30 due to the holiday.  I was on my own to prep and navigate trunk-or-treat.  Luckily Andy , Bekah and their kids joined us for Halloween or else I wouldn't have survived.  Our B-Ball trunk was a big hit again and between us 3 adults we had enough man power to work our trunk and take our kids around for their own fun.  When trunk-or-treat had wrapped up Curtis came home and help get us packed up and home, before heading over to a local neighborhood for good old fashioned trick-or-treating.  By the time we got home for the night our kids were wiped out!  And so was I!

7 Months Old

October 14, 2012

For the last month we have begun the food adventure with Marco, and he LOVES food!  He wasn't a huge fan a plain rice cereal, but once I started mixing fruit in with it he was hooked.  Marco is also really good at feeding himself little puffs and cheerios.  I could watch his chubby little fingers pick up food all day long, it's so adorable!

Marco has also started walking out onto his hands and knees so I think crawling is a not too distant achievement to look forward to.  I know Marco will be super happy to be crawling.  I can tell that he longs to follow his big brothers around.  Right now he gets frustrated and cranky when he can't satisfy his desire to be with them or to play on his own with a toy that keeps getting away.  I spend a lot of time moving him around the house so he can be in the midst of all the action.

The Brack Attack Update

Stats:

weight 39 lbs

height 40"

Our big 3 year old boy!  He's the sweetest little stinker you'll ever meet.  Bracken has a sweet tooth.  He asks for gum, candy and treats all day long.  He rises early, usually around 6 am sometimes earlier.  I hear his little feet padding through the kitchen to our room.  He comes up to me and says one of 2 things "Mom I need to go potty" or "Mom, I'm hungry can I have a snack?"  Good morning to me!

Bracken has a slight lisp that is really adorable.  A few of his cute little sayings are:

hangaber = hamburger

play play playdoh

'Ot dogs = hot dogs

scelecope = telescope

slizard = lizard

Brack went through a Hulk phase, where he would run around the house saying "HULK SMASH!" and continue bamming things.  If I were to pick a super hero that best describes Bracken it would be the Hulk.  He can be sweet and mild and then the next second watch out because he's turned to the dark side.

Bracken has recently turned into a little songbird.  He loves to sing and when I hear his little voice singing my heart soars!  I can't get enough of it!  His favorite songs are 5 Little Hot Dogs, You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, I Am A Child of God, I Lived In Heaven, The Ants Go Marching Marching Marching (he has to sing marching 3 times).   He also sings little phrases from songs he hears on the radio and it cracks me up. The one he sings the most is "The sun goes down, it never is the same, I'm glad you came, I'm glad you came." 

Captured Moments

Marco loves to explore new things, pull things out and slobber all over them.  A babies life is so amusing!

Nathan and Bracken aren't supposed to jump on the couches but every now and then when the start it up I don't have the heart to squash their fun and let them go at it.

Over the last few months I have given Nathan a few piano lessons when he has the hankering for one.  Like a sponge he has absorbed more knowledge about the piano over his short life span than I realized simply from observing my student's lessons.  He has great posture and technique.  I love to watch him practice.  He is so focused and serious.  It's seriously cute.

Fall Break

Fall Break, was a while ago in reality but oh well better late than never!

Nathan loved his first vacation from school, sleeping in every day and hanging out with Bracken and Mom like the good ol' days.  Mostly the week was spent just taking it easy and enjoying a slower pace.  We did have a fun excursion to the zoo with our cousins.  The fall weather was perfect and Nathan and Bracken had  a blast racing from animal to animal with Ava and Jaxon.